Friday, February 1, 2013

I promised to
my friends that I would publish, tonight, the recipe for the Jerusalem
Artichoke soup inspired by the 17th century recipe from the first Polish cook
book, within my series designated to Old Polish cuisine (more details in my previous post).

Nutty, earthy,
sweetie Jerusalem artichokes (I prefer to call them “topinambours”) are one of
those vegetables that were commonly known and used in cookery in Poland 300 and
200 years ago and they disappeared - not from the country - but from our
tables. They were replaced by potatoes, as far as I know. Despite their name
(“artichoke”) they rather have nothing to do with those artichokes than we know
from French or Italian cuisine. I realize that culinary habits of every nation are
different and had to evolve over time. However, to me the most surprising
aspect of Old Polish cuisine is not the variety of poultry (capon!) and
venison, not the variety of soft water fish, but the spices like ginger (we can
call this cuisine as “gingery” cuisine), raisins and limes. I wonder: how was it
possible that they were so popular at that time? How did people get them? Every
recipe call for spices, sourness and sweetness and exotic ingredients which I
did not know when I was a kid!

The season
for topinambour lasts from late summer to February (this is not what I know
from practice – I have just read it). Anyway, if you get (or buy) these
vegetables, keep them in your fridge, otherwise they will quickly get soft. If
you make a soup with them, you do not really have to peel the artichokes; it is
sufficient to clean them thoroughly.

Today's
recipe, taken from Stanisław Czerniecki's book, calls to only use vegetables
and spices; the recipe was sent to me by professor Dumanowski who advised that
the revisited version of this soup tastes better with cream and ginger. Ok, I
decided to follow his instructions and I came to the evidence that he was
right. Without any cream, the addition of ginger to the soup would be too bland;
and the addition of cream added some nice and smooth taste. I added some
sourness by squeezing in - just before serving - some fresh lime juice. The
soup is tasty and interesting, but it needs some more changes, maybe more
ginger? The addition of crispy vegetable
chips is a must, it changes the character of the soup, as freshly squeezed
limes did.

Fortunately I
go to France next week. I am dreaming about buying a capon (the most popular
meat in Poland 300 years ago and unavailable today) and make some super extra
dish for you.

Jerusalem Artichoke Velouté with Vegetable Chips

(Zupa
– krem z topinambura z warzywnymi chipsami)

Serves 4 small / medium portions

For the velouté:

350 g Jerusalem
artichoke, delicately peeled, washed and diced
(if you do this in advance,keep
the vegetable in water with some vinegar to prevent it from darkening)

1 large onion,
peeled and roughly chopped

1 medium carrot,
peeled and sliced

2 cm ginger,
peeled and chopped

2 medium garlic
cloves, peeled and chopped

1 apple,
peeled and chopped

1 small handful of soaked raisins

1 parsley root,
peeled and chopped

¼ small celery
root, peeled and chopped

300 ml stock
(vegetable or chicken)

200 ml milk

100 ml cream

2 pinches nutmeg

2 tablespoons goose
grease / butter

Saffron

Salt

Pepper

1 lime, cut
into quarters

Blender

For the vegetable chips:

100 g (possibly large) Jerusalem artichokes, delicately peeled, washed
and cut along into very thin slices
(if you do this in advance,keep
the vegetable in water with some vinegar to prevent it from darkening
– remember to dry out slices before placing them in boiling oil);

1 parsley
root, peeled and cut along into paper thin, long strips

500 ml vegetable oil for deep frying

Put saffron in 100 ml of warm water and
put aside.

Heat
some oil or grease in a saucepan, add onions, ginger, garlic and caramelize
them a bit over medium heat stirring constantly. Add harder vegetables: carrot,
parsley root and celeriac. Fry for around 10 minutes stirring constantly to
prevent them from burning. Add Jerusalem artichokes, raisins, stock and cook
under the cover, until the Jerusalem artichokes are soft. Do not overcook them,
as they may become starchy.

Remove
the saucepan from the heat and blend the soup using a blender. Then pass the
soup through a fine sieve; discard the leftovers and pour the soup in a clean saucepan.
Add milk, cream, saffron with water, and all the spices. Bring to a boil.
Adjust the taste if necessary. You can add more ginger if you like a strong
ginger flavor.

Make vegetable chips: bring oil to boil
over low heat – once it is very hot, put delicately the vegetables into the oil
and fry them until gold and crispy. Remove them from oil and put on a paper
towel.

This soup looks lovely, the list of ingredients is just unbelievable - amazing how versatile Polish cuisine used to be. Maybe I am a bit harsh but I am pretty sure if I say Jerusalem artichoke to many Polish people I would say 8 out of 10 will not know this veg. :( This is sad, I think we should go back to our roots - not base upon what was popularized in last 50-70 years.

Great post, waiting for some more with dishes inspired by traditional 200-300 years old cuisine. :)